Royals at Cubs prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for July 22

Its Tuesday, July 22 and the Royals (49-52) are in Chicago to take on the Cubs (59-41).

Rich Hill is slated to take the mound for Kansas City against Matthew Boyd.

Salvador Perez went yard twice last night as the Royals blitzed the Cubs in Game 1 of the series last night, 12-4. The veteran backstop now has four home runs in his last three games. Carson Kelly collected three hits in the loss for Chicago. Said loss has dropped the Cubs out of first place in the National League’s Central division.

Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.

We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

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Game details & how to watch Royals at Cubs

• Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
• Time: 8:05PM EST
• Site: Wrigley Field
• City: Chicago, IL
• Network/Streaming: FDSNKC, MARQ

Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.

Odds for the Royals at the Cubs

The latest odds as of Tuesday:

• Moneyline: Royals (+211), Cubs (-265)
• Spread: Cubs -1.5
• Total: 9.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Royals at Cubs

• Pitching matchup for July 22, 2025: Rich Hill vs. Matthew Boyd
  • Royals: Rich Hill (0-0, 0.00)
    Last outing: This is the 45-year-old’s 1st start of the season. He was 4-4 with a 5.36 ERA for Triple-A Omaha
  • Cubs: Matthew Boyd (10-3, 2.34 ERA)
    Last outing: July 12 at Yankees – 8IP, 0ER, 4H, 0BB, 6Ks

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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Royals at Cubs

• After losing the series opener, the Cubs have a 10-3 record in Game 2 this season
• The Cubs’ last 3 games against the Royals have gone over the Total
• The Cubs have failed to cover the Run Line in 7 of their last 8 home games against the Royals
• Pete Crow-Armstrong has now hit in 5 straight games (7-17)
• Bobby Witt Jr. has hit safely in 5 of his last 6 games (5-24)
• With his 2 HRs last night, Salvador Perez now has 290 in his career

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!

Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Royals and the Cubs

Rotoworld Best Bet

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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Tuesday’s game between the Royals and the Cubs:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Chicago Cubs on the Moneyline.
• Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Kansas City Royals at +1.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Game Total of 9.0.

Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC

Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:

• Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
• Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
• Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
• Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)